ST George Mining Ltd
St George Mining Appoints Worley for Araxá Feasibility Studies
St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has taken a significant step forward in developing one of the world's most compelling niobium and rare earths projects, appointing global engineering giant Worley Engenharia Ltda — the Brazilian subsidiary of ASX-listed Worley Limited (ASX: WOR) — as its technical adviser for the Araxá Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The appointment marks a meaningful transition from resource definition toward active development studies at a project underpinned by a 70.91 Mt TREO mineral resource and an additional 24.56 Mt Nb₂O₅ inventory.
This is not a routine corporate update. The engagement of a firm of Worley's calibre — with more than 40,000 employees across 40+ countries and over 60 years of in-country experience in Brazil — signals that the Araxá Project is moving into a new phase of seriousness, one that investors focused on critical minerals supply chains would do well to monitor closely.
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What Does Worley Bring to the Table?
Worley is one of the world's largest providers of engineering and project management services to the resources sector. When St George Mining appoints Worley for Araxá feasibility studies, the company unlocks a broad suite of capabilities critical to advancing a mining project from development studies to operational readiness.
The scope of Worley's engagement covers:
- Metallurgical and process engineering
- Feasibility and cost study work
- Process plant design
- Mine planning
- Tailings management
- Procurement and plant construction support
"As one of the world's largest providers of engineering and project management solutions to the resources sector, Worley brings extensive and relevant expertise to support St George as we advance the potential development of our world-class Araxá Project."
— John Prineas, Executive Chairman, St George Mining
Worley's own leadership echoed the significance of the partnership:
"This partnership reflects Worley's long-standing track record in Brazil and our capability to support complex resources projects from early studies through to operation."
— Tom Foster, SVP Global Operations – LATAM&C, Worley
The engagement is structured under a formal technical services agreement between Worley Engenharia Ltda and St George Mining Brasil Ltda, St George's wholly owned Brazilian subsidiary. This provides a solid contractual foundation for what is expected to be a sustained and expanding relationship as economic studies gain momentum.
The Asset Behind the Appointment: Araxá in Numbers
The Araxá Project sits adjacent to the operations of CBMM — the world's leading niobium producer — in the Barreiro Carbonatite complex of Minas Gerais. St George acquired 100% of the project on 27 February 2025, and on 3 March 2026 announced a major resource upgrade that substantially elevated the project's global standing.
Total JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate (2% TREO cut-off)
| Classification | Million Tonnes (Mt) | TREO (%) | MREO (%) | Nb₂O₅ (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 8.02 | 5.23 | 0.95 | 1.06 |
| Indicated | 21.46 | 4.31 | 0.80 | 0.63 |
| M&I Total | 29.49 | 4.56 | 0.84 | 0.75 |
| Inferred | 41.42 | 3.71 | 0.72 | 0.52 |
| Total | 70.91 | 4.06 | 0.77 | 0.62 |
Additional Nb₂O₅ Inventory (0.2% Nb₂O₅ cut-off)
| Classification | Million Tonnes (Mt) | Nb₂O₅ (%) | TREO (%) | MREO (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 0.02 | 0.51 | 1.77 | 0.34 |
| Indicated | 2.59 | 0.31 | 1.44 | 0.31 |
| M&I Total | 2.60 | 0.31 | 1.45 | 0.31 |
| Inferred | 21.95 | 0.54 | 1.17 | 0.27 |
| Total | 24.56 | 0.52 | 1.20 | 0.28 |
The combined Nb₂O₅ inventory across both reporting tables totals 95.47 Mt — a figure that positions Araxá as a genuinely world-scale critical minerals asset.
Key project advantages that support the development case include:
- Location in an established mining region with decades of commercial niobium production history
- Proximity to existing transport and energy infrastructure
- High-grade mineralisation amenable to open-pit mining
- Access to an experienced regional workforce
- A permitting environment supported by established regulatory processes
Understanding Critical Minerals: Niobium and Rare Earths Explained
For investors less familiar with these commodity sectors, understanding niobium and rare earth elements provides important context for why St George Mining appoints Worley for Araxá feasibility studies on such a significant scale.
Niobium: The Steel Strengthener
Niobium is a silver-grey metallic element that enhances steel strength and reduces weight when added in small quantities — typically just 0.04% by weight. This makes it invaluable for high-strength steel applications including pipelines, automotive components, and structural engineering.
Brazil dominates global niobium production, accounting for approximately 85% of world supply, with CBMM (adjacent to St George's Araxá Project) being the largest single producer.
Rare Earth Elements: The Technology Enablers
Rare earth elements are a group of 17 metallic elements essential for modern technology applications. Despite their name, they are relatively abundant in the Earth's crust but rarely found in economically viable concentrations. They are critical components in permanent magnets, smartphone screens, LED lights, and defence systems.
The most valuable rare earths are the "magnet rare earths" — primarily neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium — which are essential for high-performance permanent magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors.
Why Are These Minerals Strategically Important?
Both niobium and rare earth elements are classified as critical minerals by major economies due to their essential role in infrastructure, clean energy transition, and national security applications. Furthermore, supply chain diversification outside of traditional dominant producers has become a strategic priority for many countries globally.
Understanding the Resource: A Plain-English Guide to Key Terms
For investors less familiar with mining project metrics, several terms central to this announcement are worth clarifying.
TREO (Total Rare Earth Oxide): The combined concentration of all rare earth oxides present in the ore. At Araxá, the Measured and Indicated resource grades at 4.56% TREO represent a robust figure for a large-tonnage deposit.
MREO (Magnet Rare Earth Oxide): A subset of TREO focused on the rare earth elements most in demand for permanent magnets used in electric motors, wind turbines, and other advanced technologies. This is often the most commercially valuable component of a rare earths deposit.
Nb₂O₅ (Niobium Pentoxide): The standard measure of niobium content in ore. Brazil accounts for the vast majority of global niobium production, and the Araxá region is its epicentre.
JORC 2012: The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves — the standard framework used by ASX-listed companies to ensure resource estimates are independently verified and consistently reported.
Cut-off Grade: The minimum grade at which material is considered economic to mine. Reporting at multiple cut-off grades allows the full scope of Araxá's mineralisation to be captured across both its rare earths and niobium components.
An In-Country Team Built for This Moment
One of the underappreciated strengths of St George's position at Araxá is the depth and relevance of its Brazilian executive team. This is not a generalist resources team learning the Araxá region — it is a group of specialists who built their careers there, including former senior personnel from CBMM itself.
Key In-Country Leadership
| Name | Role at St George | Relevant Background |
|---|---|---|
| Carlos Araujo | Lead Plant Engineer | Managed design, construction and commissioning of CBMM's niobium processing plant |
| Ricardo Nardi | Lead Processing Engineer | Former Head of Mineral Processing at CBMM; 30+ years in niobium processing |
| Adriano Rios | Director of Mining Operations | Former Production Manager at CBMM; former Director of Operations for COMIPA |
| Thiago Amaral | Brazil Country Head | Former CBMM Product Regulation Coordinator and ex-Head of Sustainability |
| Alaercio Viera | Metallurgy Manager | Previously Metallurgy Manager at Serra Verde; process expert at CBMM and CMOC's Catalão operation |
| Juliano Bianco | Specialist Engineer | Managed design, construction and commissioning of CBMM's metallurgical and oxide niobium processing plant |
Supporting this team are Australia-based metallurgical advisers with rare earths and niobium-specific credentials, including Gavin Beer — Principal of Met-Chem Consulting with 35 years' international metallurgy experience — and Peter Adamini, Technical Manager at IMO with 25+ years in flowsheet design across niobium and rare earths.
What Comes Next: The Path Through Economic Studies
The announcement indicates that economic assessments are expected to "gain momentum" as the company looks to advance a potential mining operation. The technical services agreement covers the full development study spectrum, meaning the work programme has scope to evolve from initial scoping through to prefeasibility and feasibility study outcomes.
The near-term focus areas implied by the engagement include:
- Metallurgical and process engineering — refining flowsheet design for pyrochlore and monazite processing
- Mine planning — optimising pit design to leverage the high-grade open-pit amenable mineralisation
- Feasibility and cost studies — generating the economic parameters necessary to underpin development decisions
- Tailings management design — an increasingly important component of project permitting and social licence
- Infrastructure and logistics assessment — capitalising on Araxá's proximity to existing transport and energy networks
St George has indicated it intends to report further milestones as economic studies progress, making this an active news flow story for investors tracking the project's development.
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Why Araxá Warrants Investor Attention
St George Mining's Araxá Project sits at the intersection of several powerful structural investment themes: the global effort to develop critical minerals supply chains outside of China, the growing demand for niobium in high-strength steel and emerging battery applications, and the accelerating requirement for magnet rare earth elements.
In addition, the reference point of Serra Verde — cited as Brazil's only currently producing rare earths mine and the subject of a US$2.8 billion takeover by USA Rare Earth Inc — illustrates the scale of value being ascribed to Brazilian rare earths assets at this stage of the market cycle.
Furthermore, when St George Mining appoints Worley for Araxá feasibility studies, it represents more than a corporate milestone. For a junior mining company to secure a firm of Worley's global standing through a competitive selection process suggests that the project's fundamentals are compelling enough to attract serious institutional-grade engineering attention.
The combination of world-scale resource inventory, proven jurisdiction advantage, and institutional-grade development support positions Araxá as a legitimate contender in the global critical minerals landscape — one that investors focused on the energy transition should be monitoring closely.
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